Brighton & Hove a driving force for Electric Vehicles

Councillors will discuss a report at Cabinet next week which sets out the city’s ambitious plans for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging for the next two decades.

Members will be presented with a report which includes new Electric Vehicle charging policies which will guide how Brighton & Hove’s EV infrastructure is expanded, and a plan of action for both the short, medium and long term.

The policies were supported by feedback from more than 500 responses from a public consultation last year.

The visionary EV Charging Plan for Brighton & Hove is to create an inclusive, publicly accessible EV charging network that is convenient, affordable, and encourages those living and working in our city to switch to an electric vehicle. Our goals are to:

• Support residents and business to make the transition to an EV;
• Facilitate the provision of an accessible network of charging solutions to accommodate all users’ needs;
• Future-proof the EV charging network, enabling expansion to meet increased demand, and
• Deliver a clean and sustainable environment that we can all be proud of.

With more than 500 EV chargepoints already installed across the city, that number is set to grow to over 6000 by 2040 with around 1650 installed in the next 3 years.

More information can be found in the report being presented to Cabinet on 14 May.

Pavement gully pilot

Included in the report are plans for a pilot to install almost 200 pavement gullies for homes that don’t have off-street parking.

Using £232,000 of funding from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) EV Pavement Channel Grant, gullies would allow a charging cable to be run safely through the pavement from a property to a vehicle parked on the road.

Initially, we’ll be inviting Blue Badge holders, who rely on being able to park outside their homes, and taxi drivers looking to switch to an EV vehicle, to apply for a gully grant.

Leading the way

Councillor Trevor Muten, Cabinet member for Transport and City Infrastructure, said: “Brighton & Hove continues to lead the way in EV infrastructure growth.

“The popularity of electric vehicles is growing and its vital we not only keep up with demand, but exceed it.

“Hundreds of EV chargepoints are being installed across the city, with thousands more planned. All supporting clean, affordable and sustainable travel in a city working towards a Net Zero future.”

“The gully pilot is very exciting. We know this is something residents want, but it’s important we make sure our pavements are kept safe and accessible. This pilot will allow us to assess demand and ensure safe and reliable installation.

“We are very proud that Brighton and Hove is leading the way nationally with public EV charging infrastructure moving us away from polluting tailpipes towards a cleaner city.”

Facts and figures

• As of September 2025, there were 4857 electric vehicles registered in Brighton & Hove, just over 4% of all vehicles and a 30% increase on the year before.
• It’s predicted 50% of vehicles in the city will be electric by 2035 and 75% by 2040.
• Currently, 54% of households don’t have off-street parking, mainly having to rely on off-street chargepoints.
• 83% of these households are within a five‑minute walk of a chargepoint.

Expanding our EV network

Supported by £2.8 million from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund, more than 6,000 new EV chargepoints are set to be installed across the city by 2040.

They’ll include:

• 6,000+ lamppost chargepoints (up to 8Kw)
• 1,000 fast chargepoints (between 8Kw and 50Kw)
• 200+ rapid and ultra rapid chargepoints (50Kw and above)
• 2 flagship ultra rapid EV hubs

1650 of those new chargepoints will come in the next three years, adding to our existing network of 500.

Since mid-March, 140 new lamppost chargepoints have been installed across the city by operator Char.gy. 600 are set to be installed by the end of June this year.

We’ve also identified 50 sites for the first phase of new rapid chargepoint installations. Working with operator Believ, the Traffic Regulation Order process is scheduled to begin at the end of this month.